Price doesn’t need to kill the deal

I talk a lot about points of constraint in my book How to Close More Business in Less Time, and for good reason.

A point of constraint is a roadblock –– something that gets in the way. It can slow you down or bring you to a complete stop. Think in terms of a highway. You’re driving down the highway. Traffic slows. You find yourself inching along.

In time, three lanes become two. Two become one. Then you discover the problem. It’s roadwork on a bridge. Two of three lanes are closed. That’s a point of constraint.

Points of constraints are lurking in every sales process, too. That’s why one-call closes are often so few and far apart.

One of the primary points of constraint in a sales process is price. The prospect is all in and eager to jump onboard until he hears the price. When he sees or hears the price, the sales process slows. Perhaps it stops. And you… you’re back on the street.

While you can’t always anticipate a roadblock due to highway construction, you can anticipate the point of constraints in your sales process. You eliminate or, at least, reduce the impact of the point of constraint caused by price by addressing it earlier in the sales process.

For example, as you’re educating your prospect, you talk about return on investment, time saved, greater economies, increased profitability, and so on. There are other places in the sales process where you can speak about price before you actually give a price. It’s subtle. But it definitely helps to eliminate sticker shock.

The key is to study your sales process with an eye on identifying the primary points of constraint and then working to reduce or eliminate them before they occur.